Mirror, Mirror

It was April and he was about seven months gone. The baby wasn’t letting him get any rest. He wondered how long he could actually keep it a secret. Before he knew he was ignored if he wasn’t acting like he was perfect. It still hurt knowing that in a family as large as his, he was the bottom of the favorites. His mum loved him, he knew that, but she liked being able to coddle her children and he stopped allowing that when he was three.

He was lucky because Higgs hadn’t bothered him since the day Pettigrew was arrested. It was big news; the Daily Prophet went on and on about an unjust system. From what little he found out from his correspondence with Lupin, he was staying with Sirius while he healed. They had plans to get Harry at the beginning of the summer.

His own summer was more in doubt, he would be having a baby around that time. How was he going to explain it to his mother? His father? His very protective older brothers? What would the twins say? There was no decision to be made about keeping the baby, he would be keeping his baby. He wasn’t really a fourteen-year-old, he was twenty-nine and wanted this baby more than anything.

If he told his family the truth, he would probably be admitted to St. Mungo’s for being mad. If he just told them who the real father was, Flint would deny it and he would be telling the truth, at least in this time. He didn’t even have his first kiss until Penny but that was years away. It wasn’t like he could blame her for this anyway. He would ask Oliver, but he knew his answer, he would tell him that it would get in the way of his Quidditch career if people thought he had a baby while at Hogwarts. Because he knew Oliver was right, he would never ask that of him. There was only one option. Higgs. Higgs had known he was pregnant in their time because he had to tell Marcus. Marcus and Higgs were best mates after all.

“Fancy seeing you here…wait no it’s not.”

It was because he thought of him, he conjured him up with just his thoughts.

“Leave me alone, Higgs.” Just because he was going to ask him to be his baby’s pseudo father didn’t mean he wanted to do it now.

“I think we should go to the Ministry and try to go back to our time.”

“Break into the Ministry? The Department of Mysteries?”

“Your brother did.”

“I’m not Ron. But more importantly, I can’t risk it.”

“Why?”

Percy gestured at his stomach, although it was hidden under his robes you could see a bump. He would soon have to use enchantments all the time not just class.

“Wait, you’re still pregnant? I thought Marcus said you were getting rid of it.”

“What? No, never. I’m a Weasley.” While he didn’t think bad on those who didn’t want to continue their pregnancy, it was like unwritten law, Weasleys have babies.

“That’s going to be hard to explain to the parents. Perfect Prefect Percy got pregnant in school.”

“Not a prefect yet. Probably won’t be now, I don’t think Dumbledore bought how I knew about Pettigrew.”

They were in the library, Percy’s home away from home. He liked books, he understood them and felt like they understood him too. This time they were far away from Madame Pince. She would be unlikely to hear them.

“Who are you going to say is the father? Marcus will deny it because that’s the truth in this time.”

“That’s where I was hoping you would help. If I say I don’t know who the father is my parents will flip even more. But if I say I just made a mistake and we had one night of teenage hormones, maybe they won’t disown me.”

“Get real, your parents won’t disown you. Mine on the other hand will have me out of the house before I can…blink. But now that I think on it, it would get me out of their house a whole year early.”

“But where will you stay?”

“I have money, lots of it. My grandfather left it to me. When I turn seventeen it’s all mine. That means I just have to make it to August.”

“What about after it’s born. What about your future wife?”

“Padma isn’t even in Hogwarts yet. Who knows if this time around we will fall in love? It was only after the war she gave me a second glance, good thing too before that she was a bit young. But even if we do fall in love again, she would love any child of mine. She’s a good person, she’s a Ravenclaw, she actually uses her brain unlike Gryffindors.”

Percy let the insult stand; he was used to it from Higgs. Also, he couldn’t argue much, Gryffindor was more brawn than brain. The hat wanted to put him in Ravenclaw, but he begged to be put with his brothers. Now he wasn’t so sure if it was the right choice. If he had chosen differently maybe, he would have grown into his own person sooner and not been a lacky for too many idiots in the Ministry.

“Alright, so you’re going to be the baby’s father.”

“Right. Until we go back to our time or until they graduate Hogwarts. At least when he’s put in Slytherin it will look real.”

“This baby is not going to be in Slytherin.”

“Better get used to defending Slytherin. You’re about to tell the most Gryffindor family in Europe that you’re having one’s baby.”

Percy let his head drop on the advanced potions book he was reading. Higgs was right, his family was going to go mental.

It was finally time to go home, the baby was so big he was sure he would have it any day now. He should have still had a month, but he didn’t know how much bigger the baby could get. He was using every charm and enchantment he knew. It still didn’t help his walk which made him look like a child’s wind-up toy.

As weird as it seemed he thought Terrence was actually excited to tell his parents. He knew the Slytherin hated his family but because he was underage, he was stuck with them. Soon he would be seventeen and a legal adult. Which would be good for him because he would just need to find childcare for one year. Then he could rely on Higgs to care for the baby until he graduated. He knew he was being completely delusional but who could blame him. He went from an independent, single man that was going to be a single father to a teenager that was in boarding school for most of the months out of the year.

All he had to do was make it two more days and he would be home at the Burrow. There he could figure out his next move. Maybe he could ask to go stay with Bill in Egypt for a while.

He practically ran out of Potions because he needed to start getting everything ready to go home. The twins and Charlie would wait until the last possible moment, but he couldn’t. It didn’t matter what it was, he was always prepared. That was until now with the baby, he had no real clue what he was going to do. Technically he had already graduated Hogwarts. Too bad he couldn’t tell anyone but Remus.

Remus, if he asked him maybe he would take care of the baby. He would ask his mum, but he was sure she was going to have a fit. There was no way she would agree, besides that, he worried that the baby would think she was his mother.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to have the baby, take a few months off of work to get to know the baby then have a child minder while he worked. He wasn’t supposed to be fourteen again, it was hard enough the first time.

“Percy, stop,” he heard Charlie call after him.

He stopped, knowing that Charlie wouldn’t leave it until he answered him. Turning he saw his larger-than-life brother lumbering towards him. He was looking very pleased with himself. If memory served, Charlie had just gotten the news that he got the apprenticeship in Romania.

“Yes, Charles?”

“I wanted to talk to you, it feels like an age since we’ve done that.”

Percy was instantly suspicious, his brothers may be protective, but they weren’t invested in his life. His first year he was so alone, always eating alone and walking alone, they never stopped him once to ask if he was alright. If it wasn’t for Scabbers he would have felt completely alone. For the first time since he gave Peter up to the aurors, he felt sad for the rat. He was a good rat; it was just the human in him that wasn’t up to par.

“Why do you care?” he asked honestly.

“Its just that people are worried about you. Mum says you haven’t written very much.” His first year he wrote her every day, after that he brought it down to every other day. Since he got back, he’s sent maybe four letters total. “Not only Mum but Oliver says you’ve been hiding more and more. He says you shower early before anyone wakes and you’re in bed with your curtains pulled before even curfew.”

“I just have had a lot to think about. It’s nothing to worry about.” It was he didn’t want anyone to see him without his robes. It would be hard to explain why he was as big as an Erumpent.

“Have the twins been bothering you?”

“No more than usual. It’s fine, Charles. Don’t worry about me.”

“You say that, but we worry about you the most.”

“Why?”

“Because no one knows what’s going on in that head of yours. You’ve never depended on anyone; you never tell us what you’re feeling.”

“Would it matter?”

“What?”

“Would it matter? For four years you’ve pretended I didn’t exist to you here. I’ve always just been a prank target for Fred and George. I don’t tell you how I feel because I know you won’t care. I don’t depend on anyone else because I know I can only depend on myself.”

His back hurt and he was irritable. He just wanted to find a quiet place and ignore the world around him.

“I’m sorry, Percy,” he heard Charlie mutter as Percy left him standing in the corridor.